It was a nail-biting weekend for the Georgetown (8-7, 2-3 Big East) field hockey team, as the Hoyas pulled out a 2-1 win on Friday in double overtime over the Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-11, 0-5 Big East) and suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in penalty strokes against the Saint Francis Flash (6-9, 2-2 NEC) on Sunday.
Friday’s game started off relatively quietly, but towards the end of the first quarter, freshman Emma van der Veen found the back of the net off of an assist from senior Halle Gill to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead over the Bobcats.
The second quarter saw few scoring opportunities for either team, but Quinnipiac junior Julianna Cappello still managed to tie things up at 1-1 off of an assist from sophomore Micaela Grajales despite good defense from Gill and sophomore Eliana Swell.
Both goalies saw more action in the second half, but made good saves. Swell and fifth year Ali Cronin played solid defense against Quinnipiac’s corners, preventing more goals. Georgetown was unable to capitalize on Quinnipiac’s three green cards and one yellow card, though, and regulation ended in a 1-1 tie.
The first overtime was tense, as neither team was able to score and things stayed tied up. But in the second overtime, van der Deen scored again, assisted by fifth year Emma Street, on a corner taken by Cronin, to win the game in sudden death, 2-1.
At the start of their Sunday match up against Saint Francis, the Hoyas looked like they were continuing their dominance from Friday. Senior Sydney Stephenson scored less than ten minutes in, assisted by sophomore Louisa Baxter, off of a corner taken by Cronin.
However, Saint Francis dominated for the rest of the quarter, with cleaner passing and 10 shots as compared to Georgetown’s one. The Hoyas were able to stay in it, though, thanks to excellent goalkeeping from senior Ciara Weets.
Georgetown started the second half off strong, with another quick goal for Stephenson, assisted by junior Abby English and Cronin. But it didn’t take long for Saint Francis to respond with a goal from junior Claudia Ortiz, to cut the Hoyas’ lead to one. The Hoyas opened their lead back up to two just a few minutes later, with a goal for freshman Sophie Towne and an assist from Stephenson.
The rest of the game was intense, with three yellow cards, one for Georgetown and two for Saint Francis, in the final ten minutes of regulation. Despite this and more excellent goalkeeping from Weets, the Flash were able to knock in two more goals to tie the game at 3-3, sending it into overtime.
Gameplay was for the most part equal during overtime, but the Hoyas did seem to have a slight edge, with more shots on goal and more penalty corners. But two overtimes wasn’t enough for either team to score, so the game went into penalty strokes.
Things were looking up for the Hoyas after they scored on the first penalty stroke and Weets made a great save against Saint Francis’s first shooter, but by the time they got to the fourth round, things were all tied up at 1 goal each. Things were still tied up going into the fifth round, despite a controversial refereeing decision to let the fourth Flash shooter redo her shot when it was unclear whether she had scored before or after the buzzer sounded. It didn’t end up mattering though, as Weets saved her second attempt anyways.
In the final round of penalty strokes, Saint Francis’ junior goalkeeper Chloe South saved the Hoyas’ final shot attempt, and Weets couldn’t quite make the last save, so the Flash won 4-3 (2-1). Despite coming up short, Weets still put in excellent work in goal.
For their next match-up the Hoyas will face UConn in Storrs, Connecticut on Friday, October 22 at 1 p.m. Live stats can be found at guhoyas.com. For continued coverage of all Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
